Environmental Triggers and Autoimmunity

Call for Papers

During the past decades a significant increase in the incidence of autoimmune disease has been observed worldwide. Autoimmunity arises when the host’s immune system is directed against self-tissue antigens. Accumulating evidence has suggested a close interplay between genetic factors and environmental triggers such as infections, toxicants and some dietary components in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Consequently, since 1997 research and publications devoted to environmental triggers in autoimmunity has grown by an average of 7% every year.

The mechanisms by which environmental factors induce autoimmunity has been described variously as involving cross-reactivity, aberrant cell death, or the binding of toxicants to tissue proteins with the subsequent formation of neoantigens. To optimize the chances of therapeutic success, it is essential to first identify the environmental triggers and then remove them from the patient’s environment.

We invite researchers to contribute original and review articles that will focus on the roles that environmental triggers play in various autoimmune disorders. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Epigenetics of environmentally induced autoimmune disorders

Epidemiology of environmentally induced autoimmunity

Assessment of the impact of environmental factors on autoimmunity

Innate and adaptive immunity in the etiology of environmentally induced autoimmunity